MLP: Friendship is Magic "May the Best Pet Win!" Recap

Rainbow Dash gets jealous when she learns that her friends gather once a week to hang out with their pets, and decides to get a pet of her own. However there are too many great choices so Rainbow Dash holds a competition to see who will get to be her pet.

I love the premise of this episode and it’s awesome to see a great character like Rainbow Dash get her own episode. The thought of her trying to choose a pet just sounds funny. What kind of over the top qualifications is she looking for in a pet? This was as entertaining as it sounded and it was funny, but it also impressed me with its level of creativity.

“May the Best Pet Win!” begins with an obvious dream, so no spoiler there. After waking Rainbow Dash discovers that her friends are gathering together with their pets. She soon learns that it’s an event they do every week which they call a “Pony Pet Playdate”. Rainbow dash tries to act like she doesn’t care, but then then she states a desire to have a pet in her own way. This causes Fluttershy to freak out and literally drag Rainbow Dash off to Fluttershy’s home, which has a lot of animals to choose from. The two sing a song, which helps Rainbow Dash realize there’s a lot more potential pets for her than she thought. It’s hard to choose, so Rainbow Dash decides to hold a competition of epic proportions featuring events that range from the logical to the insane. Is this over the top? Yes. Does it suit Rainbow Dash’s style? Yes!

I already mentioned earlier that Rainbow Dash is a great character, and now I add that this episode portrays her perfectly. It’s easy to see why so many like the character. I also mentioned that the level of creativity in this episode impressed me. That creativity shone through the most with the events Rainbow Dash set up and how the potential pets met those challenges, which was the episode’s greatest source of humor. For example, during a part of the competition that can best be described as a talent show, the potential pets do some impressive stuff including knitting. Not what you would expect from a pet! In fact all the animals were characters in their own right, despite how there wasn’t enough time to really explore many of them very deeply. That’s something I respect; like always both big and small details are very well thought out. There’s even some subtle foreshadowing of things to come, before a certain part of the plot makes the conclusion dramatically obvious. These things attest to the skill of those who make this show. The song here was a great and entertaining performance that also progressed the plot. The lesson at the end of the episode was not spectacular or anything, but okay.

Now for the bad in this episode. I would love to write that once again I can’t find any flaws, but sadly that is not the case. This show is more about the journey rather than the destination, but I found this episode far more straightforward than most. I would’ve preferred more mystery over which pet Rainbow Dash would choose, but her choice was obvious for most of the episode. Another problem is Rainbow Dash’s dream right at the beginning. My policy on dreams is they should reveal more about the character or be important to the plot. But this particular dream did neither thing and feels like it’s there only to make the episode longer. It could’ve been edited out to no ill effect.

Put simply, “May the Best Pet Win!” is a good episode of a great show. It was a lot of fun to watch. But, after watching it I’m left feeling disappointed since I’ve come to expect so much more from this show. Most episodes impress me by how much they were able to fit into one episode and feel longer than they actually are. This episode however felt as long as it was, and that’s not including the pointless dream at the beginning. This is a superb show with manyclassic and memorable episodes, but this episode isn’t one of them. Still, it does introduce a new minor character in the form of Rainbow Dash’s pet, which may play a part in a great episode one day. Time will tell.